Tamara Tunie Quotes

When I made the decision to stop working regionally and just focus on being in New York, part of the reason that instigated that choice was a desire to work on new plays and know what it was to originate a part.

I have the cliche 'struggling actor' story. I was waiting tables in New York, went out to L.A. soon after graduation to get some jobs, but it didn't work out. I wanted to cut my teeth in professional theater, so I came back to New York. It made my journey a longer one, but I really wanted to excel in the theater.

Everything has combined to make my life in New York an amazing experience. I told my manager a few years ago that I wanted to move here and try acting in the theater.

I started out doing theater and a soap in New York and that's... sort of what I got stuck in. I was blessed enough to have long runs, and it's sort of hard sometimes then to get out.

After doing 'War and Peace,' I suddenly got lots of seductress roles. It's easy to put people into a category after you've seen them in one thing that you feel fits with them. But I'm trying to make a conscious decision to do different things.

I never had intention of coming to New York or L.A. and actually doing more than scraping by - you know, doing plays. And as my career sort of progressed of its own volition, I did come to New York.

I kind of had a quarter-life crisis before I did 'Rent.' I had done Glinda in 'Wicked' for a while. I had worked for Cirque Du Soleil, and then I did 'Hair.' Then I had a real quiet time, not having work, and it was a time of not only self-discovery of me as a person, but also what I wanted as an artist and actor.

I have to be careful not to do so many comedy airhead roles from now on. I've turned down a couple already.

I'm trying to mix the cool, independent stuff with the big stuff, but it's been difficult finding the right roles. It's been an interesting ride as far as my career pendulum is concerned.

In N.Y.C., I auditioned for mostly 'quirky friend' roles. Since casting directors in L.A. lacked a preconceived notion of me, I was able to reinvent my type a bit, which was essential in booking the role of Amanda on 'Ugly Betty.' I don't believe I would have auditioned for that role in N.Y.

By 1949, there was no more work for me out there, and I went to New York in 1950 and just did whatever I could. Mainly television. Some Broadway. A lot of dinner theater work, which is not a very satisfactory medium.

I then moved to LA when I was 16... but before that I had done a play on Broadway.

When someone gets closely related to a character they play on TV, it's very hard to break that mold and go on to do something else.

I spent a lot of time in the trenches in New York doing a lot of off-off-off Broadway theater.

When I was in New York for 'White's Lies,' I saw 'American Idiot' and 'Hair.' I loved both of those.

I started auditioning, and the first job I ever got was understudying Amy Ryan in 'The Sisters Rosensweig' on Broadway, directed by Daniel Sullivan. I was 18 years old.

I was in New York. I had been doing theater for many years, and then I got hired to a little part - they weren't calling it an extra, but I didn't have lines. It was a 'featured' part.

I had worked for ten years in theater; I had worked at Second City in Chicago. Then I got to Hollywood, and I was like, naively, 'Where's my pilot?'

I don't worry too much about typecasting. I just figure, one way or another, I'm going to find another role.

'Miss Saigon' was my first professional show. It was one of the first regional productions of 'Miss Saigon.'

My career, definitely, the early years were a little scattershot, in terms of - it was a little regional theater, it was a lot of voiceovers, it was a lot of random day jobs. I mean, it was hard. It was hard to scrap around, and once 'Hairspray' happened, then it all kind of clicked into place.

I came to New York to study theater and stayed and was doing exactly what I wanted to do. It's because of that work that some doors eventually opened for me.

I loved being on Broadway, but performing has become exhausting, and I just don't want to live in New York anymore. I'm just sick of the competition in New York, the feeling that I always have to rehearse to keep up my performance. I don't feel like rehearsing, even though it should be my favorite thing in the world to do.

I sing; I started my career at 9 years old in 'Les Miserables' on Broadway.

I was getting to the point where I said to my wife, 'I don't think I'll ever be in New York in a play again.'